Geography, health belong in Temecula schools

Why, oh why, do our school districts keep making stupid decisions about educating our young people?

In that regard, Temecula Valley Unified School District trustees take the proverbial cake. In a meeting last week, they yanked geography and health education classes from their high school graduation requirements, relegating them to elective status. The move reportedly was made to allow students more opportunities to take advanced courses and other extra-curricular classes and activities, such as band, student government and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college readiness system for underserved students, generally in the academic middle).

This move makes absolutely no sense — particularly the move to strike geography, which in my day was every bit as important as the fabled “three R’s.”

At a time when globalization is one of the most popular buzz words and cultural diversity has become a societal mandate, our young people know less about the world around them than they ever did, at least in recent history. A few years ago, in a National Geographic Society survey of 18- to 24-year-old Americans, only 37 percent could find Iraq on a map, while 50 percent couldn’t locate New York, the country’s third-largest state.

How can we teach our children to accept different cultures, and then in the same breath take away their opportunity to learn about them?

Back in 1843, a Harvard student named Jared Sparks, who would one day be president of the esteemed university, authored a call for the inclusion of geography in American colleges. “Few studies are more useful, few more easily attained, and none more universally neglected, than that of geography,” he wrote.

Sparks argued that a knowledge of geography was critical to understanding historical events, particularly wars, as well as contemporary commerce and politics. What he said back then still makes sense today — even more so, given the fact that we’re all so connected.

It’s hard to talk about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East without touching on the historical background of Israelis and Palestinians — and noting that the conflict always has been about geographical borders. Hitler’s World War II power grab? Borders. The Vietnam War and today’s power play by North Korea? Again, borders.

Taking geography out of our high schools will only lead to one thing: the further dumbing down of America. And for the Temecula school district to take the regional lead in such a foolish move truly is beyond belief.

Yanking the health education requirement also makes little sense. High school students are vulnerable on so many fronts, and health and wellness have become common conversation points in virtually every aspect of our life — from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s war on soda to First Lady Michelle Obama’s drive to get school kids to eat more nutritious meals.

I’m all for emphasizing math and reading, but not at the expense of other critical subjects such as history, science, and, yes, music, art, geography and health.

We should be striving to turn out a generation of informed, well-rounded individuals — not a bunch of wanna-be Bill Gateses.